Secret

“If y’all have to stay married until the baby comes, then maybe you can trade out and start to get a taste of what life’s like without us since we’re all you’ve been living for. And maybe you two need to be in counseling to learn to live without us every day,” Cate added.

“Yeah!” Chad agreed, nodding his head. They were switching gears so fast it was getting hard to keep up. “I’m not sure a lot of our friends’ parents are gonna understand this. We have to figure out the best thing to say.”

“Allison was with me tonight, she knows. But I’ll ask her to wait to tell people until Mom and Dad are ready,” Chloe told Chad and Cate.

“Are y’all still paying for our college?” Chad asked.

“Of course we are,” Teri answered. “That money’s been set aside since you guys were little. Those are not worries you need to have.” Out of all the ways he’d envisioned this conversation, never once had he expected that response. His gaze landed on Teri. They exchanged that look, and he knew she was on his page. Somehow in finding out their father was gay and their mother was pregnant by another man, their kids had made this all about themselves.

Chloe still hadn’t weighed in on her final answer, but she also wasn’t curled up against his side anymore. She sat more between him and Teri. “What’re your thoughts, honey?”

“I think we’re at a critical time in our lives and we need to make sure we stand by one another. Cate needs the most support right now out of all of us. I can stay at OU if I need to and come home on the weekends,” Chloe offered.

“Absolutely not,” Teri said before Dylan could manage to get the words out. In what world did Chloe put others before herself? Maybe his firstborn was truly growing up. He ran a hand down her hair with the pride her words had raised in him.

“I agree with what you guys are saying, though. You three are moving on and we need to find our new normal,” Dylan said. All three of the kids nodded. Teri did too. “It’s gonna take some time to sort this out, but under no circumstances are the three of you to take on any of your mom’s or my burden. We don’t want that. We’ll figure out how best to handle the next six or seven months between us with as little disruption to you guys as possible.”

“All right, so can I go to bed now?” Chad asked, letting out a loud yawn.

“We need to talk soon,” Dylan said to Chad as he rose from the sofa.

“Wait. I wanna know who Dad’s dating,” Cate said. Chad rolled his eyes at her and started walking across the room.

“I knew I had some great kids, but I really expected some anger and shock when you found out about me,” Dylan added, standing and stretching the tension out of his body. Again, never had he expected this conversation to go quite this way. He also let out his own yawn.

“Dad’s seeing Mr. Wilder,” Chloe whispered loudly toward Cate. That stopped Chad in his tracks and had Cate squealing.

“I like him, Dad! He’s hot!” Cate said, jumping up and giving him a hug.

“Girls, I don’t think your dad’s ready to talk about things like this with you,” Teri said, still sitting on the sofa, but smiling at their daughter’s response. “This is all very new to him.”

“I’m so not ready to talk about this. Not sure I’ll ever be ready—” Dylan started, but Chad cut him off.

“Dad, there are cars parked out front,” Chad said, pointing toward the front of the house. Dylan went to his side and looked out the small window, putting Chad behind him as he got closer. He did see the cars out front. There were two parked, one behind the other, right in front of their house. He reached for his phone and patted his pockets, but he didn’t have it on him.

“It’s probably Mark. I called him before we talked tonight. He wanted to come over. I need to talk to him. He doesn’t know about this.” She patted her belly.

“I can’t believe you’re having another baby.” Chloe gave her own little squeal. Dylan ignored them, not completely convinced that was who sat in one of the two cars outside.

“Maybe you can get pregnant, Chloe, and y’all’s kids could play together,” Chad teased, like an annoying brother would do.

“That’s not funny at all,” Dylan said, nudging Chad to the side with his elbow. “I’m going out there to make sure it’s him. I don’t understand two cars and they crowded each other. Something’s not right.”

“No, let me go. He’s got to be worried,” Teri said, pushing herself up out of her seat.

“No. You’re not going out to some unknown cars in the middle of the night.” Now, they were both standing in the living room, staring out the two front windows of their home. Dylan went for the door.

“You stay back. If it’s anyone other than Mark, lock this door and call the police, hear me?” Dylan didn’t wait for their answer and opened the front door then shut it behind him. He kept the lights off and fully stepped out on the front porch. As he got to the steps, someone inside decided to turn the porch lights on. He was momentarily blinded as two people got out of the first car. Then he heard a third door shut. Three people made absolutely no sense. He took the porch steps down, trying to get a better look and move the distraction away from the house. He hoped they were in there calling the police right now.

“Are you guys all right?” Mark asked. Why had Mark brought two people with him?

“Yeah, who’s with you?” Dylan asked from about the middle of the front yard. Mark was stalking forward, but bypassed him with a quick pat on the shoulder as he went straight to the porch. Teri had come outside after he’d told her to stay in and protect herself. His kids were standing in the doorway, watching. Dylan turned back to the car to see Tristan standing several feet away.